Participant and Leader Terms of Use

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Contact Us

If you have a concern, complaint or questions about your personal information you can reach out to privacy@thoughtexchange.com. This address will always go directly to our Data Privacy Officer. For more information, see the When you have concerns section of our privacy statement.

Welcome, and thanks for using Thoughtexchange! Please take a few moments to read these Terms of Use. This is important, because by consenting to these terms, you are entering into a legal agreement.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Who we are

Who you are

How Thoughtexchange works

The purpose of these Terms of Use

Information we collect and use

Your information is yours

How we handle your information

Your responsibilities

Leader subscriptions

More information about services

When you have concerns

Additional agreements

TERMS OF USE

Who we are

Thoughtexchange is an online service that has been created by and is owned by Fulcrum Management Solutions, Ltd. When this agreement uses the terms “we” or “us,” it is referring to Fulcrum. That’s us.

If you reside in Canada or in another country other than the United States, your agreement is with us. If you reside in the United States, your agreement is with our U.S. subsidiary (also referred to as “us”). The legal name and address of the U.S. corporation can be found at the bottom of this document.

Who you are

Thoughtexchange allows one person to create and facilitate a direct online conversation with a group of people. We call these conversations “exchanges.” We call the person who leads an exchange a “leader” and the people who participate in an exchange “participants.” When you use Thoughtexchange, you are acting as a leader, a participant, or both.

When we refer to “you” in this agreement, we refer to you in your role as a leader and / or as a participant. Some of the obligations under this agreement only apply to leaders. This agreement makes it clear when that’s the case. If you are only acting as a participant, those obligations do not apply to you.

Leaders create exchanges (or have hired us to create exchanges on their behalf) and then invite or provide access to participants who participate in the exchanges. The leader’s identity (as provided to us) is displayed clearly, so each participant should know who the leader is for each exchange.

Whether you are here as a leader, a participant, or both, we are happy that you are here.

How Thoughtexchange works

Thoughtexchange builds a fair, transparent network for conversation so that thousands of people can provide input and feedback on meaningful, open-ended questions in real time. Participants can give their thoughts, hear from everyone and discover what is important to the group, building trust and confidence in the process. It’s valuable for leaders and participants.

To do this, Thoughtexchange uses a simple structure for good discussion. First you consider and think about a question and contribute your thoughts (Share step), then you assign a rating to your thoughts and those of others to show which thoughts you value (Star step), and finally you and everyone else participating share the insights from the aggregation and analysis of all of the input (Discover step).

Thoughtexchange ensures that every participant’s thoughts (as much as possible) are seen an equal number of times by other participants. It also provides a number of different ways for you to see which thoughts rise to the top and how your input compares to the broader group. For leaders, Thoughtexchange analyzes all participant input to find areas of broad agreement, as well as potential for agreement among groups having strong interests leading to positions that at first appear to be in conflict.

What good does it do? Thoughtexchange makes it possible for people with diverse interests to contribute ideas and negotiate priorities amongst those interests, and in turn help inform, improve and build support for the decisions affecting the group. The results of each exchange are expressed as those thoughts and underlying interests that are valued by the group, which create a specific and descriptive roadmap for how a leader can make progress.

Is that a big deal? We don’t know of any other way to have this kind of discussion with so many people in different places at the same time. We think it’s a very big deal, and we hope you agree.

The purpose of these Terms of Use

Thoughtexchange is on a mission to make “make groups gooder.” For a Thoughtexchange to work best, we need you and others like you -- as many as possible -- to participate fully. As much as possible, we want to remove reasons for you not to participate. One important way of doing this is to reassure you that we are being responsible with the information we collect as part of an exchange.

There are hundreds of rules and regulations around the world that prescribe the minimum of what a company like ours must do when it collects certain personal information. And then there’s common sense. Our goal is to treat your information the same way we hope you would treat personal information about us. If you ever feel that’s not the case, please let us know.

First we ask your permission to collect and use your information. Before you access our online service, we ask you for your permission to collect information about you and use it in providing our service. You give us this consent by clicking on a button or other feature saying something to the effect of “I accept,” “I consent” or “I agree” to these Terms of Use.

We understand that it’s difficult for you to give us permission if you don’t know what information we are collecting and what we’re using it for. So to help you make the decision that’s best for you, we have create these Terms of Use to tell you exactly the information we collect and how we use it.

We also understand that, in order to effectively provide consent, you need to be aware of costs and risks associated with your use of our service.

Participation in an exchange is generally free. We only charge fees to leaders. However, if you decide to participate by messaging on your mobile device, you may be charged standard text and data rates for messages sent and received in the course of participation. You will receive several messages for each step in the exchange until you either type “STOP” or otherwise stop interacting with the exchange via messaging. You know. If you participate using your mobile, then “Message and Data Rates May Apply.”

Although we take great care to keep your thoughts and identity separate, there is a slight chance that you might be associated with a thought you provide that embarrasses you or leads to other negative consequences. However, you can eliminate that risk entirely by not submitting thoughts that you wouldn’t be comfortable sharing in person.

And although we have taken extensive measures to keep your information private and secure, there is no perfect system for doing so. The internet is not a 100% secure environment. There is always a risk that your information may become public. We feel that this risk is very small given the small amount and kind of information we collect and the measures we take to protect your information.

The main way we minimize the risk of accidental disclosure is by collecting no more personal information than we need in order for our service to perform as designed. The information that we do collect is not highly sensitive (such as financial or health information) and mainly consists of your name, basic contact information (email address and/or phone number) and opinions in the form of thoughts and ratings. In addition, should there be a security breach, we have procedures in place to promptly notify you and to mitigate potential negative consequences.

If you don’t feel comfortable with these risks or with the information we collect or how we use it or for any other reason, you should NOT give us your consent, agree to these Terms of Use or access or participate in any exchange.

If you do give us your consent, then welcome, and thank you for using Thoughtexchange!

We handle your information like it belongs to you. We believe that your personal information belongs to you. This means you have the right to withdraw your consent, access your information, correct it, take it back for yourself or have it erased. These Terms of Use describe each of these rights in more detail below.

And we believe your personal information is important. We take a number of measures to limit access your information and to keep it secure. You or your exchange leader can ask us at any time to delete your data and we will comply. These measures are also described in greater detail below.

And we get exchange leaders to agree as well. We feel a leader also has a responsibility to protect your privacy under these Terms of Use. In fact, if you are a leader, then as a leader you agree that, except where these Terms of Use specify otherwise, your rights and obligations to your participants are the same as ours. As a result, unless there is an explicit distinction, when this agreement uses the terms “we” or “us,” it is also referring to you as a leader.

As a leader, you agree to these Terms of Use when you or your organization enter into a service agreement with us, or when, after you’ve provided consent, you create your first Thoughtexchange or we create one for you, whichever occurs first. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use as a leader, do not create a Thoughtexchange or have us create an exchange for you.

Having said that, as a participant you should be aware that where we have a separate contract with a customer for leading exchanges, that contract provides the customer with choices and control over the data in that exchange, including your personal information. For example, the customer may have given us your name and contact information in the first place. In addition, the customer can control access to exchanges, remove thoughts from an exchange, or delete or retain data from one or several exchanges. These choices and instructions may result in the access, disclosure, modification or deletion of certain or all of your personal information.

Information we collect and use

Your input (thoughts, stars) are shared with others, your identity is kept confidential and the association of your input to your identity (who shared which thought or assigned which stars) is kept completely private. Read on for details.

In a Thoughtexchange there are 3 main types of information that we collect from participants, either directly or as a result of participation in the exchange. There are other types of information collected, which we discuss closer to the end of this Section 5, but we feel these are the 3 that are the most important – for us and for you as a participant.

Your input. During a Thoughtexchange we ask participants to provide input. The main kinds of information that you provide as part of the exchange itself are your written thoughts in response to open-ended questions, and ratings that you assign to your thoughts and the thoughts of others, according to how you value those thoughts. We may also ask you to provide other information, such as general demographic information (that is, information about you that normally can’t be used to specifically identify you) or an answer to a satisfaction question. This is also input.

Your identity. This includes your name, email address, phone number or other contact information that specifically identifies you as a participant. We may have received this information directly from you when you registered to be part of a Thoughtexchange, or we may have received it from the leader of your exchange. We realize that this may be the result of your input, but because it is information that can be used to identify you, we treat it more carefully.

Association information that connects your input to your identity. This is anything that enables someone else to know that a specific thought, star or any other input came from you personally as a participant.

Things we need to do with your input. In order for a Thoughtexchange to work, we need to be able to share your input as a participant with the leader and with other participants. In general others are able to see any thoughts you enter and the cumulative effect of stars you assign. In addition, the leader may choose to make this input public or, if they are a public entity, they may be legally required to make your input public. We also need to compare your input to the input of others, aggregate your input with the input of others, and analyze and reach conclusions from all of that. We need to be able to mix, match or do whatever we can think of to everyone’s thoughts, ratings and other input in order to make your input as meaningful as possible, and we need to be able to do any and all of this in a way that shares those results with the leader, other participants, or even publicly. We feel that's a good thing: it's why we are here and why you are participating -- provided we protect your privacy at the same time.

Having said that, it is important that you know we may decide NOT to publish your thoughts as part of an exchange. A Thoughtexchange may be moderated – meaning your thoughts may be removed. This moderation may be done by us, or by the leader or may be done by the participants during the exchange. A thought can be removed if it is rude or hurtful to a person or group, or if it does not answer the question asked. Even though those are the main reasons we would remove your input, we (here including the leader) reserve the right to remove a thought for other reasons if we see this to be in the best interest of the leader or other participants, or if we feel for some other reason that it is important to do so. It is solely our decision.

In addition, your thoughts, even if shared as part of an exchange, will be accessible only for so long as the exchange is accessible and will be deleted when the exchange is deleted.

What we need to do with your identity. In order for a Thoughtexchange to work, we need to know who is participating. (When it comes to your identity, including input that relates to your identity, such as demographic information, “we” includes the leader.) The leader needs to know who they are having the conversation with. Beyond that, however, we don’t need to share your personally identifying information with any other person for the exchange to work. For that reason, under these Terms of Use, we treat your identity information as confidential among you, the leader and us.

As with your input, your identity information will be accessible only for so long as the exchange is accessible and will be deleted when the exchange is deleted.

What we need to with association information that connects your input to you. In order for a Thoughtexchange to work, we need to know that particular input has come from you, and we use that information as part of the exchange.

For example, we have found it is important that participants know they can be identified as the source of a particular thought, because they will answer more carefully than they would if they were completely anonymous. We have also found it to be critical to be able to give you back your thoughts along with thoughts of others for assigning stars, in order to show that the group has heard and values the thoughts that come from you.

At the same time, we need completely candid responses -- even (and maybe especially) when they are controversial or uncomfortable. We want you to feel free to speak freely and honestly, without fear of being shamed or otherwise having to face negative repercussions for doing so.

The Thoughtexchange process doesn’t require that we share this kind of association information with anyone else, including the leader. The leader doesn’t need to own, have access to or use association information for Thoughtexchange to work to its full potential.

As a result, we feel that association of your input as a participant with your identity should be kept private between us (that is, you the participant and Fulcrum). We, Fulcrum, know it and use it, but unless you consent, we are compelled by law, or we feel morally obligated to do so we won’t share it with anybody else, including the leader.

Why are we talking about these three kinds of information? How we need to use these three main types of information is different for each, and we feel those differences are important enough to highlight. The rest of this Section 5 describes additional information that we may need to collect in order to make an exchange work.

We also collect your information and use it in the following additional ways:

Information collected from leaders. If you are a leader, then in creating an exchange you provide us with your identity and textual information to describe the process (e.g., a title and background text) as well as attachments such as images or documents or videos that provide background for participants as well as comments you may enter for specific participant thoughts in the Discover step.

This information is shared to participants as part of the exchange. We have no obligation with respect to how this is further shared by you or your participants. That said, we will keep this information confidential and we won’t share it with others.

We may gain access to certain confidential information, including, but not limited to, the names and email addresses of your participants, access to personal information or data contained in your Thoughtexchange and information about your organization not directly related to your Thoughtexchange.

As between Thoughtexchange and you as an exchange leader, you own all data that you create or provide to us. We agree that, except as required by law, we will not disclose your confidential information to any third person without prior written approval, and will protect your confidential information with at least the same degree of care that it uses to protect our own confidential and proprietary information.

Specifically, we agree that we will not use email addresses that you provide to us for anything other than directly providing the Thoughtexchange services, unless, and only to the extent you ask us to or grant us permission to do so. If you do grant us permission to use information publicly, you agree this information may be used by us for all business purposes, without any accounting or any payment to you, unless otherwise arranged at the time permission was given.

If you are a leader, you agree that we may publish or disclose your name (or, if you are a company or agency, the name of your company or agency) as a customer on our website or in written or verbal communications to other existing or prospective customers. No other information will be disclosed. If you do not want your name published or disclosed, you may notify us at support@thoughtexchange.com and we will agree to keep this information confidential.

Information automatically collected by our software

When you visit, use or leave our services by clicking links or buttons or other user interface affordances we automatically receive information through our software and other software that we use to host and manage your exchange.

Information collected in this manner that can be used to identify you we treat the same as any other identifying information. The details are explained above, but our essential obligation is to keep it confidential, and to keep private any association of this information with any other input you provide.

This kind of information includes:

the internet protocol (IP) address of your computer or the proxy server that you use to access the web;

location data passed to us from third-party services or GPS-enabled devices that you have set up; and

The actions you took in our application so that we can see which features are being used and in what ways.

Customized Experience and Service Development. We customize your experience and the experiences of participants in order to provide you and other participants with better questions and choices for prioritizing thoughts and a more intuitive experience. We may also gather information about you and other participants collectively, such as which of our services are used most. The data aggregated for these purposes does not contain any identity information, or else uses a token to anonymize the data. We also use information and content that you and other participants provide to us to conduct research and development for the improvement of our services.

Your Information is yours

You own your information. Our fundamental starting point is that, as a participant, you own all the information and the thoughts and other input that you provide to us. You only grant us a license to use your information.

Because you own your input, identity and association information and we only have non-exclusive rights to it, you may choose to make any or all of it available to others. If you do choose to share it, or even if you mistakenly share it, we have no obligation under these Terms of Use for any of the information shared.

Your license to us. You grant to us a worldwide, non-exclusive right to use, copy, distribute, publish, process and delete the information that you provide without any further consent, notice or payment. Your license to us is limited in the following ways:

Except with your consent or as required by law or moral obligation, your identity information, which is known by us and the leader’s organization, will not be shared with any other person or organization.

Except with your consent or as required by law or moral obligation, we will not share your association information with any other person, including the leader.

While we may translate and make formatting changes to your content prior to publishing (such as modifying the size, layout or file type or removing metadata), we will not intentionally modify the meaning of your words.

We will not use or share your thoughts, content and personal information in any way that is inconsistent with these Terms of Use.

And because you own your information, you retain control over it. Among other things, you can:

Withdraw your consent to our collection and use of your information at any time.

Access your information and, if you wish, obtain a copy of your information.

Correct any of your information that is not correct. However, changing your mind on how you express a thought or rated another thought is not a correction. As long as your thought or rating hasn’t been modified, we consider it to be correct at the time you entered it.

Have your information erased from our service. However, you acknowledge that a leader may provide us with information about you in connection with a future exchange.

Over time you will be able do some or all of these things in the Thoughtexchange application itself. If you want to take any of the above actions, you can contact our customer service team with your request, and they will show you how to do it, or will make sure that it gets done for you. If we have to do this manually, our goal is to have it done within 30 days.

If you are participating through messaging, you may “opt out” at any time by texting “STOP” and we will discontinue sending messages to your phone. You should be aware that this only applies to messaging, and if you want us to stop collecting and using information, you need to withdraw your consent.

How we handle your information

Who controls your information? Your exchange leader and we jointly share control over your information (other than association information) as described in these Terms of Use.

If you reside in the United States, our U.S. subsidiary corporation controls your identity and association information, the name and address of which is at the bottom of this document. If you reside in Canada or outside the United States, your identity and association information is controlled by Fulcrum Management Solutions, Ltd. If you have any concern about providing information to us or having such information displayed or otherwise used in any manner permitted in this privacy policy and the other Terms of Use, you should NOT visit our websites, participate in an exchange or otherwise use our services.

Who has access to your identity information? Within our organization, only authorised personnel have access to your identity information. Authorized personnel are limited to our employees or contractors who have a legal obligation to protect your privacy that is consistent with these Terms of Use.

We at Fulcrum don’t share your information, but leaders and other participants who have access to your information could decide to share it, and we have no obligation for their actions. In general public entities (e.g., school districts) have a legal obligation to share much of their information, while private entities do not have the same obligation and generally do not share their information publicly. As a result, your input into different exchanges may be shared differently. The important thing is that it is the leader and other participants, and not we at Fulcrum, who decide this.

Accuracy. We assume that information that you provide to us directly (whether as a leader or participant) is accurate and complete, based in part on “Your responsibilities” described below. If you notify us that information that you have provided is not accurate, you may correct it. However, changing your mind on how you express a thought or rated another thought is not a correction. As long as your thought or rating hasn’t been modified, we consider it to be accurate and correct as of the time you entered it. Where we have reason to believe that information is not accurate (such as with failed delivery messages) we take commercially reasonable steps to correct it.

Security. We have implemented security safeguards designed to protect the personal information that you provide as a participant in accordance with applicable law, industry standards and the golden rule. To protect information stored on our servers, we also regularly monitor our system for possible vulnerabilities and attacks, and we use a secured-access data center. However, since the Internet is not a 100% secure environment, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information that you transmit to us. There is no guarantee that information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.

Compliance with Legal Process and Other Disclosure. It is possible that we may need to disclose your identity information, including information that connects you to your input, when required by law, subpoena, or other legal process, whether in the United States, Canada, or other jurisdictions. We may also disclose this information if we have a good faith belief that disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (1) investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities or to assist government enforcement agencies; (2) enforce this agreement, investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations, or protect the security or integrity of our services; (3) exercise or protect the rights, property, or safety of our employees, personnel, other participants or members of the public; or (4) address a concern which we feel we have a strong moral obligation to address. We attempt to notify participants about legal demands for their personal information when appropriate in our judgment, unless prohibited by law or court order or when the request is an emergency. In light of our principles, we may dispute such demands when we believe, in our discretion, that the requests are overbroad, vague or lack proper authority, but we do not commit to challenge every demand.

Data Residency. If the leader has notified us that it is a Canadian public entity subject to a Canadian Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, we store and access information from their participants in Canada in accordance with that Act. Otherwise, we may host your information in either Canada or the United States at our discretion as permitted by law.

Data Retention. We retain the information you provide while your exchanges are ongoing or as needed to provide you services. We may retain your information even after expiration of your subscription in order to maintain your data history if you subsequently re-subscribe or if retention is reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations, meet regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, prevent fraud and abuse, or to enforce these Terms of Use. We may retain information, for a limited period of time, if requested by law enforcement. We also may retain information for a limited period of time because we hope you will come back as a customer. Our service team may retain information for as long as is necessary to provide support-related reporting and trend analysis. You may request us to permanently delete your information at any time, including at the end of your subscription period. We will normally retain your data for at least six months after the end of your subscription period.

We will not use or share your Information for direct marketing. We do not share any personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We can’t control what your leader does with your information. Your leader may or may not choose to share your information with third parties.

Your responsibilities

Whether you are a participant or a leader, a Thoughtexchange is only as good as the integrity of your input. As a leader, in order to get meaningful participation, you need to create a meaningful exchange. As a participant, in order to have a meaningful say, you need to provide accurate and constructive input. You have an obligation to keep the conversation civil and on topic. This is the reason we feel we need to know who participants are, while at the same time we take on an obligation to protect your identity, instead of using an anonymous process.

You are responsible for your account. In order to access our services and lead and/or participate in a Thoughtexchange you will need a user account. Your user account is created for you and may be based on your email address or phone number. By providing us with your email address or phone number, or using the account created for a particular email address or phone number, you acknowledge that you are the owner or authorized user of it.

Your account may also include your first and last name. You may revise or remove the name from your account. You agree that your account information will be truthful. You agree that you will use your real name for your account. You will not create a false identity for your account, and you will not steal, impersonate or otherwise intentionally use the identity or the account of any other person.

As between you and others, your account belongs to you. You agree to: (1) not transfer any part of your account and (2) follow the law and these Terms of Use. You are responsible for anything that happens through your account unless you report misuse and we’ve had a reasonable amount of time to disable your account or otherwise remedy the misuse.

You are responsible for your input

Whether you are acting as a leader or a participant, you agree that you will not:

Provide content that is rude or hurtful to a person or group;

Act dishonestly, including by posting inappropriate, inaccurate, or objectionable content;

Harass, abuse or harm another person;

Attempt to use Thoughtexchange to send unwelcome or unwanted communications to others;

Engage in “framing,” “mirroring,” or otherwise simulating the appearance or function of the Thoughtexchange or our other services;

Access our services except through the interfaces expressly provided by us, such as our mobile applications and thoughtexchange.com or thoughstream.com;

Override any security feature of the services; and/or

Interfere with the operation of, or place an unreasonable load on, our services (e.g., spam, denial of service attack, viruses, gaming algorithms);

We may terminate your account for misuse or abuse. You acknowledge that we have the right to monitor your use of our services in order to ensure your compliance with these Terms of Use, or to comply with any law, order, or requirement of any court or government authority. We reserve the right to restrict, suspend, or terminate your account if we believe that you may be in breach of these Terms of Use or law, are misusing our services or are providing input in any manner that:

is in bad taste,

is inconsistent with our public image or reputation, or

would tend to bring disparagement, ridicule or scorn upon us.

Leader responsibility for exchange content. If you are a leader, you agree that you, and not us, are responsible for the content of all visual, written or audible communications and any other material produced by you, your participants, or anyone else who may access the Thoughtexchange services under your subscription. You agree that you have all the rights, licenses, and permissions from third parties to use, reproduce, publish, and display content belonging to others. You agree that we are not liable for any loss or damages due to use of the Thoughtexchange services by you or your participants.

Leader Subscriptions

Leader access to the Thoughtexchange services is by subscription. The duration of your subscription is specified in the receipt provided to you on purchase and will be maintained in your account record, or will be specified in a separate written agreement with us.

You may cancel your subscription at any time by providing us with written notice. No refund is payable of any subscription fees already paid. We may cancel your subscription at any time and will issue a refund pro-rated based on the number of months remaining to the end of the term.

Cancellation, or failure to renew your subscription, will result in suspension of the Thoughtexchange services at the time of cancellation or at the end of your paid term.

More information about services

Service Availability. We will make every reasonable effort to provide continuous access to the Thoughtexchange services. If an extended interruption of service occurs, you will be notified as quickly as possible and we will estimate to the best of its ability the expected duration of the outage. You will also be notified if scheduled outages are required for preventive maintenance.

We perform periodic service upgrades, which will include both new functionality and fixes for problems. We use our best efforts to provide minimize service interruptions in connection with system upgrades.

We use redundant data storage systems to ensure the safety of your data. We will use best efforts to ensure the effectiveness of these systems and, in the event of system failure, we will use its best efforts to recover and restore the most current and complete data available.

We cannot guarantee the availability of the Thoughtexchange services in all countries and they may not be available for use in any particular location. You are responsible for following the laws in your state, province or country.

New service features. We may share information about our future product plans because we like transparency. Our public statements about those product plans are an expression of intent, but do not rely on them when making a purchase. If a leader decides to buy our services, that decision should be based on the functionality or features we have made available today and not on the delivery of any future functionality or features.

Your suggestions on how we can improve. The more suggestions our leaders and participants make, the better Thoughtexchange gets. If you send us any feedback or suggestions regarding our services, there is a chance we will use it, so you grant us an unlimited, irrevocable, perpetual, sublicensable, transferable, royalty-free license to use any such feedback or suggestions for any purpose without any obligation or compensation. If we choose not to implement the suggestion, please don’t take it personally.

Coaching and other Professional Services. If you are a leader, we may provide you services such as general coaching in facilitated conversations, specific coaching in the use of Thoughtexchange leader and participant features. We may also provide professional services to you under a separate agreement. Professional services and support are only available to you as a leader while your subscription is active. If your subscription is terminated for any reason, our obligation to provide additional services will terminate on the effective date of termination of your subscription.

Customer Support. We provide support by telephone and email to you whether you are a leader or a participant. If you are participating by messaging, you can text “HELP” to be connected to support. Our support hours are Monday to Friday, 6 am to 5 pm Pacific Time excluding statutory holidays. We will make our best efforts to resolve your problems and address your questions in a timely manner. Web-based training and support materials are provided “as-is.”

Consent to participation in research

We are engaged in research into bringing people together at live events in innovative ways. The research is designed to find ways for attendees and sponsors to make more effective connections and enjoy a better experience at virtual and in-person events. We are doing this research to improve live events through software and data analysis.

If you are invited to use experimental software or features at a live event:

you may opt out of the research by asking the leader of the event or session to allow you to participate in an alternative way that does not involve the use of the experimental software or features;

you have the right to withdraw from the research at any time;

you can ask us at any time to delete your data and we will comply;

if your data are used for research purposes, then the Exclusion of Liability clauses in the Terms of Use are waived with respect to any harms suffered or liabilities incurred as a result of any research activities; these clauses include those provisions under the headings No Warranty, Exclusion of Liability, Changes to these Terms of Use and Dispute Resolution;

there are no known harms associated with your participation in the research;

you will not benefit financially from your participation in the research.

If you have any questions or concerns about participation in this research, please contact the Thoughtexchange Events software team at
eventsoftware@thoughtexchange.com.

When you have concerns

Concerns about privacy. Like any good relationship, if you have a concern about how we are treating you (and your information), we ask that you talk to us. We suggest that you start with support@thoughtexchange.com. You’ll be communicating with a living person, and we’re pretty certain that every member of our support team has been genetically programmed to help you with whatever questions you have.

If you have a concern about your personal information specifically and want to go directly to the top, you can reach out to privacy@thoughtexchange.com. This address will always go directly to our head Data Privacy officer.

If you have a concern or question arising from the use of Thoughtexchange that you feel may not be ethical, please contact us at ethics@thoughtexchange.com.

You can also always reach out to us by physical mail to the addresses at the bottom of this document.

If for some reason you don’t feel we can talk it over, you have the right to file a complaint with Data Privacy Authorities in Canada, the US, the EU or other applicable jurisdiction.

If there is a security incident we will immediately take steps to notify you and to mitigate potential negative consequences.

Concerns about Copyrights of others.

Claim process. We respect the intellectual property rights of others and we desire to offer a platform that contains no content that violates those rights. To promote these objectives, we provide a process for submission of complaints about content posted by participants.

Pursuant to the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512), we have implemented procedures for receiving written notification of claimed infringements, and to object to infringement claims.

Please note that any notice or counter-notice you submit must be truthful and must be submitted under penalty of perjury. A false notice or counter-notice may give rise to personal liability. You may therefore want to seek the advice of legal counsel before submitting a notice or a counter-notice.

Notice of Copyright Infringement. If you believe in good faith that your copyright has been infringed, you may complete and submit a Notice of Copyright Infringement form, or otherwise provide a written communication which contains:

An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;

A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;

A description specifying the location on our website of the material that you claim is infringing;

Your telephone number and e-mail address;

A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and

A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.

Please submit your notice, “To the attention of Copyright Agent,” at the contact address appearing at the end of these Terms of Use.

Counter-Notice. If you believe that a notice of copyright infringement has been improperly submitted against you, you may submit a Counter-Notice, pursuant to Sections 512(g)(2) and (3) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

You may complete the Counter-Notice Regarding Claim of Copyright Infringement form, or otherwise provide a written communication which contains:

Your physical or electronic signature;

Identification of the material removed or to which access has been disabled;

A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that removal or disablement of the material was a mistake or that the material was misidentified;

Your name and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District court (i) in the judicial district where your address is located if the address is in the United States, or (ii) located in the Eastern District of Washington (Spokane), if your address is located outside the United States, and that you will accept service of process from the Complainant submitting the notice or his/her authorized agent.

Please submit your notice, “To the attention of Copyright Agent,” at the contact address appearing at the end of these Terms of Use.

Other actions we may take. Please note that whether or not we disable access to or remove content, we may make a good faith attempt to forward the written notification, including the complainant’s contact information, to the participant who posted the content and/or take other reasonable steps to notify the participant that we have received notice of an alleged violation of intellectual property rights or other content violation.

It is also our policy, in appropriate circumstances and in our discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of participants who infringe or repeatedly infringe the rights of others or otherwise post unlawful content.

Additional agreements

Now we get to some agreements that are legal sounding and not that easy to read. These are also important. Some of these agreements change our legal rights and yours. Some of it is in all capital letters. That apparently is also important. And it might feel like we are shouting at you. You may want to ask an attorney why this is. (We have.)

Again, if you feel that you cannot agree to these terms, do NOT access or participate in a Thoughtexchange or do NOT create a Thoughtexchange as a leader or otherwise use any of our services.

We own Thoughtexchange. You agree that we own Thoughtexchange. We reserve all intellectual property rights in Thoughtexchange and its related services, including all patent, copyright, trade secret, trademark and other proprietary rights. For example, “Thoughtexchange” and the Thoughtexchange logo and our other trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with Thoughtexchange are trademarks or registered trademarks belonging to us.

We don’t guarantee device compatibility. Thoughtexchange is designed to work on any desktop and mobile devices with a standard browser and access to the internet. In addition, we will from time to time develop and release Thoughtexchange applications designed to support a specific device and / or operating system, such as a Windows desktop or an iOS app. However, we don’t guarantee that we will support any particular device or operating environment.

We don’t guarantee service availability. We may change or discontinue any of our services for any reason or no reason at all. To the extent allowed under law, these changes may be effective upon notice provided to you. We can’t guarantee the availability of our services in all countries and they may not be available for use in any particular location. You are responsible for following the laws in your state or country. We don’t accept responsibility for the consequences of server unavailability, backups, software bugs or missing features. Thoughtexchange is not a storage service. You agree that we have no obligation to store, maintain or provide you a copy of any content or information that you or others provide.

Google Translate. Google’s Attribution Requirements require us to make the following disclaimer available to participants: THIS SERVICE MAY CONTAIN TRANSLATIONS POWERED BY GOOGLE. GOOGLE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATED TO THE TRANSLATIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.

(See. Even Google shouts.)

No Warranty. This is our disclaimer of legal liability for the quality, safety, or reliability of our services.

TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED UNDER LAW, FULCRUM (AND THOSE THAT WE WORK WITH TO PROVIDE OUR SERVICES) (A) DISCLAIM ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND REPRESENTATIONS (E.G. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY OF DATA, AND NONINFRINGEMENT); (B) DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT OUR SERVICES WILL FUNCTION WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR ERRORS, AND (C) PROVIDE OUR SERVICES (INCLUDING CONTENT AND INFORMATION) ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS.

SOME LAWS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN DISCLAIMERS, SO SOME OR ALL OF THESE DISCLAIMERS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Exclusion of Liability. These are the limits of legal liability we may have to you.

TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER LAW (AND UNLESS WE HAVE ENTERED INTO A SEPARATE WRITTEN AGREEMENT THAT SUPERSEDES THIS AGREEMENT), FULCRUM (AND THOSE THAT WE WORK WITH TO PROVIDE OUR SERVICES) SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR OTHERS FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, OPPORTUNITIES, REPUTATION, PROFITS OR REVENUES, RELATED TO OUR SERVICES (E.G. OFFENSIVE OR DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS, DOWN TIME OR LOSS, USE OR CHANGES TO YOUR INFORMATION OR CONTENT).

IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR LIABILITY (AND THOSE THAT WE WORK WITH TO PROVIDE OUR SERVICES) EXCEED, IN THE AGGREGATE FOR ALL CLAIMS FROM ANY PARTICIPANT, US $1000, OR FROM ALL CLAIMS FROM ANY LEADER, AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE SUBSCRIPTION FEES PAID OVER THE PRECEDING 12 MONTHS.

THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IS PART OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN YOU AND US AND SHALL APPLY TO ALL CLAIMS OF LIABILITY (E.G. WARRANTY, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, CONTRACT, LAW) AND EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN TOLD OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY SUCH DAMAGE, AND EVEN IF THESE REMEDIES FAIL THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

SPECIFIC LAWS AND OTHER OBLIGATIONS WE’VE UNDERTAKEN DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, SO THESE LIMITS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

(OK. Enough shouting.)

Changes to these Terms of Use. We reserve the right to change these Terms of Use, effective as of the time we notify you of a revised Terms of Use to you as part of an update to the Thoughtexchange services. If you don't agree to changes that we make, you should NOT visit our websites, use our apps or otherwise use our services unless and until we’ve reached agreement. Using our services after changes have been posted by us is your agreement to the changed terms or practices. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review these Terms of Use from time to time, and to familiarize yourself with any modifications.

Termination. We can each end this agreement anytime we want with notice to the other. On termination, you lose the right to access or use the services. The following provisions of these Terms of Use survive any termination:

Dispute Resolution. In the unlikely event that we end up in a legal dispute, the dispute will be resolved in Washington courts, applying Washington law, if you are a US resident. If you are a resident of Canada or a resident of any jurisdiction other than the US, the dispute will be resolved in the courts of British Columbia applying Canadian law. You agree that the laws of the British Columbia, Canada, excluding its conflict of laws rules, shall exclusively govern any dispute relating to this Agreement and/or the Services. We both agree that all of these claims can only be litigated in the courts of British Columbia, Canada or, only if you are a resident of the US, the federal or state courts of King County, Washington, USA, and we each agree to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

General Terms. Here are some important details about how to read this Agreement.

If a court with authority over these Terms of Use finds any part of it not enforceable, you and we agree that the court should modify the terms to make that part enforceable while still achieving its intent. If the court cannot do that, you and we agree to ask the court to remove that unenforceable part and still enforce the rest of this agreement. To the extent allowed by law, the English version of this agreement is binding and other translations are for convenience only.

If we don't act to enforce a breach of this agreement, it does not mean that we have waived our right to enforce this agreement. You may not assign or transfer this agreement or your account to anyone without our consent. However, you agree that we may assign this agreement to our affiliates or a party that buys it without your consent. There are no third party beneficiaries to this agreement.

This agreement (including additional terms that may be provided by us when you engage with a feature of our services) is the only agreement between us regarding our services and supersedes all prior agreements for the services.

You agree that the only way to provide us legal notice is at the addresses for physical mail provided immediately below.

Questions or Comments. If you have questions or comments, concerns about these Terms of Use or its implementation, or you wish to make a complaint about matters arising from this agreement please contact us at feedback@thoughtexchange.com or other contact information displayed on our website at thoughtexchange.com or by physical mail at: